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Zao Now: Tuesday 3rd January 2017

  • Jan 3, 2017
  • 2 min read

Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 3cm
Snowfall at base this season 112cm

Posted on Tuesday 3rd January 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


A few cm of fresh snow to report this morning which is good; though we of course need to be seeing much more than that. The Chuo, Paradise and Uwanodai areas have all added 5cm to their official snow depth numbers this morning so there should be a fresh cover up on the slopes.


There is snow on the forecast now so I am hopeful to see snow tomorrow into Thursday. Let's see.


For now, resort operations are looking like they are remaining the same as they have been. Sorry, one change I just noticed -- the Sunrise pair lift is moving now.


The following lifts are not operating:

Kurohime Number 1 quad

Zao Kokutai pair

Ryuzan pair

Karamatsu pair

Nakamori Number 1 triple

Nakamori Number 2 pair

Zao Paradise Number 3 pair

Omori quad


Official snow depths:

Chuo - 65cm

Utopia - 35cm

Uwanodai - 30cm

Paradise - 55cm


Juhyo 'Ice Monsters' Light Up night time Zao Ropeway operations


January 2017: 3rd, 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 27th-31st

February 2017: 1st-28th

March 2017: 1st-5th


Operating from 5pm until 9pm; last ropeway up at 7:50pm.

Ropeway return charges are 2,600 yen for adults and 1,300 yen for children.

In the event of poor weather conditions, operations are sometimes cancelled.



Zao Now 2016-2017 season

Data as of Tuesday 3rd January 2017 Total snowfall at base 112cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 23 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 17cm (on 17th December) November 2016 snowfall 11cm observed on 6 days December 2016 snowfall 98cm observed on 16 days January 2017 snowfall 3cm observed on 1 day




All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Zao Onsen. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report.


SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for.



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